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Towards imaging metabolic pathways in tissues

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Abstract

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging using 9-aminoacridine as the matrix leads to the detection of low mass metabolites and lipids directly from cancer tissues. These included lactate and pyruvate for studying the Warburg effect, as well as succinate and fumarate, metabolites whose accumulation is associated with specific syndromes. By using the pathway information present in the human metabolome database, it was possible to identify regions within tumor tissue samples with distinct metabolic signatures that were consistent with known tumor biology. We present a data analysis workflow for assessing metabolic pathways in their histopathological context.

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Acknowledgments

This work is financially supported by the ICT consortium COMMIT project “e-biobanking with Imaging” and the Cyttron II project “Imaging Mass Spectrometry.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Tim J. A. Dekker

  2. Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Tim J. A. Dekker, Rob A. E. M. Tollenaar & Wilma E. Mesker

  3. Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Emrys A. Jones, René J. M. van Zeijl, André M. Deelder & Liam A. McDonnell

  4. Department of Pathology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Willem E. Corver & Hans Morreau

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  1. Tim J. A. Dekker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liam A. McDonnell.

Additional information

Published in the topical collection Mass Spectrometry Imaging with guest editors Andreas Römpp and Uwe Karst.

Tim J.A. Dekker and Emrys A. Jones contributed equally to this work.

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Dekker, T.J.A., Jones, E.A., Corver, W.E. et al. Towards imaging metabolic pathways in tissues. Anal Bioanal Chem 407, 2167–2176 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-8305-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-8305-7

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